The Love Square

Not An Actual Love Square, But A Solid Romance. I'm a math oriented dude. The imprecision of “love triangle” has always bothered me. For those, assuming both sexes are involved, you need two bi people and a straight person, at minimum. (There are possible variations, but a true love triangle would have Person A in love with Person B and Person C - and Person B and Person C in love with both Person A and each other.) “Love Triangles”, in the common parlance, are actually Love Angles, such that two points are connected at a common third point. Similarly, for this Love Square to work, it would really need 2 couples such that each couple is in love with each other as well as exactly one person in the other couple. Here, we get two side by side Love Angles such that three points are connected at a common fourth point.

Math technicalities and English imprecision aside, however, this was actually a solid romance tale of finding oneself and what one really wants that put an interesting spin on the colloquial “Love Triangle” by introducing a third man that the common woman falls in love with. And in some fairly direct ways, it actually parallels a lot of what Padma Lakshmi said about her own “love triangle” in her memoir Love, Loss, and What We Ate. You've got the guy that our female lead - Penny - has an instant connection with. Then you've got the guy that actively pursues her and they wind up together almost via fluke. Then you've got the guy Penny is introduced to and has a fun time with, but who isn't interested in long term or commitment generally. And along the way, Penny gets thrust into situations she doesn't always have complete control of, all while still trying to discover herself after having survived cancer at a fairly early age - mid 20s. The characters are all solid and interesting, and each of the guys makes very strong points about love and what matters. In the end, if you like romance novels at all, you're probably going to enjoy this one. And if you don't, give this one a chance - at least it has a few more-interesting-than-normal wrinkles. :) Very much recommended.

I'm sorry to say this has to do mostly with expectations. It sounded like a book I'd love, and Penny for me was just tiresome after a couple of chapters. It was slightly redeeming when she looked for help at the end, but by then her destructive personality disguised as independent had become a bit sour and what in the beginning had sounded as a fresh protagonist who just spoke her will was just misguided. Anyway, one can't always win. And it's still better to have a real woman who has actually flaws and misery than the perfect holier than thou usual kind.